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Giving your product for free is the way to make big money

by jkiley
24 replies
I am neither a sales person, nor a marketer. I haven't really been able to sell much in my life. I guess selling is just not my thing.

Luckily, I am able to find a business model where I can make money by not selling.

I have a software (which I wrote) which is used by thousands of people to find jobs. I give it away for free. How do I make money then? Sometimes I get calls from people who wants to have the customized version of my application.

I charge from $5000.00, and can go upto tens of thousands of dollars (heighest was $25,000.00). Of course, I am not getting calls everyday though. If I had good sales people then I guess I could do better :-)
#big #free #giving #make #money #product
  • Profile picture of the author Oliver Williams
    Please tell me you are building a list with your free give away. If you try to sell something straight up you are perceived as a taker. If you start by giving value and then sell on the back end you are perceived as a giver.
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    • Profile picture of the author jkiley
      Originally Posted by Mrexclusive View Post

      Please tell me you are building a list with your free give away. If you try to sell something straight up you are perceived as a taker. If you start by giving value and then sell on the back end you are perceived as a giver.
      Yes, I do have their email addresses (if that's what you mean)...but I have never been able to do anything with them.

      I have over 200K email addresses...but just never sent out any email to anybody...all those are just sitting in my database.
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  • Profile picture of the author artnall
    The idea is not a new one. Many companies as well as individuals are using the same method; give a product or service free and then later charge for the paid/customized version of it.
    Anyhow you can use affiliate sites to promote your customized product like CB and CJ. Go to ebay for direct sales also.
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    • Profile picture of the author chris1093
      Hey man Ive got a secret for you. You are literally sitting on a goldmine! You should start sending out some emails and building a relationship with your list. Some might begin to unsubscribe because they don't want more emails but I know some will stay. If you are already classified as a giver by then you are in an even better position.

      I would send a few emails out to them giving them some value and then I would seen out some affiliate links and I bet you will be smiling all the way to the bank
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  • Profile picture of the author officer_iron
    Wow! 200K email list. You are seriously missing out! You should really look into doing some email marketing. People would kill for that kind of list.
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    • Profile picture of the author jkiley
      Originally Posted by officer_iron View Post

      Wow! 200K email list. You are seriously missing out! You should really look into doing some email marketing. People would kill for that kind of list.
      I know how to write the software and customize it to send out emails. I am just afraid that my server will be blacklisted next day. When it comes to emails...I have no idea what I am doing. hahaha
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  • Profile picture of the author tmoby
    :O I'm shocked you haven't made money with that yet! You have a huge list and you know that they're all looking for job from what you've said. There are countless opportunities with a list like that. Start planning you're e-mail marketing right now!!! and I mean right now!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Chicas
    You have over 568 posts... I"m kinda shocked - have you ever heard of an email auto responder?

    This is pretty much what people preach about on this forum - and with good reason.

    You should do some research, might be the missing piece.
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    • Profile picture of the author jkiley
      Originally Posted by Christiani View Post

      You have over 568 posts... I"m kinda shocked - have you ever heard of an email auto responder?
      Yes, and I used to have an account with aweber which had over 25K email addresses in several lists but then I closed that account because I never did anything with them so that account was a waste of money for me.

      I know that everybody here talks about building list but I am just not convinced, or just don't know where to begin.
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      • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
        Banned
        Originally Posted by jkiley View Post

        Yes, and I used to have an account with aweber which had over 25K email addresses in several lists but then I closed that account because I never did anything with them so that account was a waste of money for me.

        I know that everybody here talks about building list but I am just not convinced, or just don't know where to begin.
        You then potentially wasted 25k/month. Don't worry though, you must have good list-building knowledge to have built a list that big. Just do it again and then this time, do some email marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Free is part of a sales funnel.

    If your FREE is not part of a sales funnel, leading people to buy something, then you are doing it wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author RySpencer
    Free products are great. It gives the reader an opportunity to see what you can produce.

    If you can make steller products for free... just think of what they will buy from you.

    Be careful if you are going to bulk email people on that list without using an autoresponder company like aWeber as you could be blacklisted.

    You should consider switching your opt-in funnel to have people now sign up to an autoresponder service like A weber.
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin357
    Why don't you start building a relationship with your list first. Then JV with some people and start to monetize that ASAP! People with only a forth of that list size are making some incredible cash!
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    • Profile picture of the author jkiley
      Originally Posted by Austin357 View Post

      Why don't you start building a relationship with your list first. Then JV with some people and start to monetize that ASAP! People with only a forth of that list size are making some incredible cash!
      I guess that is where I am lost as to how to build that relationship
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      • Profile picture of the author capitalalchemy
        How about you give away your software like you are already doing as a way to get people onto your mailing list..

        If you can, set up an account with AWeber or Getresponse, and try to transfer your current list of addresses over.

        Set up an optin form on your site and explain that they can get your software for free by signing up.

        Set up a nice sequence of about 7 - 10 emails that go out every 2 - 3 days that will inform them about your software or something that will help them that is related to it, and always include a small blurb in each email about your paid version.

        You could even have the link point to a sort of sales copy page that explains the benefits, and set a "set" price for the software and provide a way for them to pay for it, such as through PayPal or Clickbank.

        I know that it can be pricey to host that many email addresses, but it's worth it -- you have numbers working in your favor.

        If it were me in your shoes, I would sit down and think about what these people would want to know, want in general, and what they would benefit from, and then craft about 10 messages that are really engaging, helpful and informative.

        I would do this first, and ponder over them, making sure that people will enjoy them and that they are well written. Make sure that your subject lines use curiosity to get people to open them, but also make sure that the subject lines are relevant to your product and what these people are interested in.

        You seriously could be making a lot of money doing this. If you set a price of say $3,000, and only 500 out of your 200k buys it, that's $1,500,000.00, and that's using the lowest number that I could possibly think of.

        Plus, as you get more people on your list, if you set up a good auto responder sequence, sales will continue.
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        • Profile picture of the author jkiley
          Thank you!!!

          This sounds like a plan.

          Is there any service who would let me import those email addresses?

          Originally Posted by capitalalchemy View Post

          How about you give away your software like you are already doing as a way to get people onto your mailing list..

          If you can, set up an account with AWeber or Getresponse, and try to transfer your current list of addresses over.

          Set up an optin form on your site and explain that they can get your software for free by signing up.

          Set up a nice sequence of about 7 - 10 emails that go out every 2 - 3 days that will inform them about your software or something that will help them that is related to it, and always include a small blurb in each email about your paid version.

          You could even have the link point to a sort of sales copy page that explains the benefits, and set a "set" price for the software and provide a way for them to pay for it, such as through PayPal or Clickbank.

          I know that it can be pricey to host that many email addresses, but it's worth it -- you have numbers working in your favor.

          If it were me in your shoes, I would sit down and think about what these people would want to know, want in general, and what they would benefit from, and then craft about 10 messages that are really engaging, helpful and informative.

          I would do this first, and ponder over them, making sure that people will enjoy them and that they are well written. Make sure that your subject lines use curiosity to get people to open them, but also make sure that the subject lines are relevant to your product and what these people are interested in.

          You seriously could be making a lot of money doing this. If you set a price of say $3,000, and only 500 out of your 200k buys it, that's $1,500,000.00, and that's using the lowest number that I could possibly think of.

          Plus, as you get more people on your list, if you set up a good auto responder sequence, sales will continue.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ross Petal
    Maybe you could use some of your profit to hire professional sales people to get more sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarketingChad
    jkiley, have you ever considered PPI (Pay-per-install)? It's a monetization method whereby you can give software away for free and make a commission on the backend by including some additional code in your install.

    If you've ever downloaded anything that asks you if you'd like to install additional plugins like the bing toolbar or something, that's essentially what it is.

    It's not a huge commission but it adds up and doesn't hurt to include it if you're already turning some volume.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daystar11
    Wow, don't waste that list! Perhaps you can rent it out, and/or find a JV partner who has complementary skills. I also like the suggestion of hiring sales people. many of us are just not cut out for this, and I think with a little bit of the right outsourcing, you could do very well.
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  • Profile picture of the author steven sanderson
    Hi there

    You have a list of 200k and that is a goldmine yes, but what you need to be doing is thinking outside the box a little here.

    A certain percentage of the people on your list will have already found a job, so to aim at the job market with this list may be diluted.

    Now, what you do have is a list of people with 2 common interests wether they have already found a job yet or not.

    1st.....They have all had a software package from you to look for a job which means they are all at least slightly computer and internet savvy.

    2nd.....They all have a will to get out there and work because they have a desire to make money.

    What you are sitting on is a massive list of prospects who probably are not even aware yet that they would love to know how to make money online !!!!!

    These are all ideal candidates to be offered an idea, a lightbulb moment, and who are we to say that they would or would not be interested in a way of making a living, i would guess they would be.

    These are the sort of untarnished people who have never been exposed to all the hype of making money online which is a very good thing because any genuine marketer with a very genuine offer could help these people, even if they have already found a job

    All the best
    Steven

    All the best
    Steven
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    • Profile picture of the author capitalalchemy
      I was going to add earlier, but I forgot...

      The job hunting market is very large. I've seen tons of related product on Click Bank. There are some that provide cover letter resources, resume templates, paid survey type stuff, programs to help people locate jobs (kind of similar to yours it sounds like)...

      Anyway, it's cool, because you have a lot of topics that can be covered with many products attached to each one. So technically you could fill up an autoresponder with a year's worth of information and promote...I don't know...maybe 7+ products within the year?

      Amazon also has tons of things to look over to get ideas.

      Sorry, I'm not sure about importing email addresses into an either GetResponse or AWeber, but I'm sure it can be done.

      I also agree with Steven that some of the folks will probably have secured jobs already..

      At the same time, you could think in terms of "career minded folks" who are really serious about improving their job position and so forth.

      I am a huge fan of body language for instance, and I've read a lot of these books, and I know that there are materials on mastering body language for interview purposes. In fact, my brother goes after high paying jobs in his field, and he always wears a blue suit during the interview, because this promotes "loyalty"...something that strikes a resonance with the interviewer...but most people may not know little things like that.

      There's a lot that can be covered, and it's certainly a fun and rewarding topic
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  • Profile picture of the author tunity
    200k list is a big one. If its not currently making you money, I can guarantee that doing it right, you'll make a lot of money with it.

    I personally have a list of 4000 individuals in one of the niche i market to and it makes me money every month, how much more you with 200k list.

    My advice: Get your list over to Aweber, like one of the warriors said its a bit pricey for a list that big, but it will pay off in the end.

    If you struggle with email marketing, here's my suggestion:

    a. Get one of the best WSO/Ebook on E-mail marketing and take a whole day to reading it. Ensure you are reading only stuffs that will contribute to your current situation. Note - Make sure you are reading about email marketing, not list building....They are two different things.....(IMHO)

    b. Sign up to newsletter that the very good software companies are sending out to subscribers who download their softwares.

    c. Read every email these software companies send out, track and follow how they automate their emails, what they sound out, what days they send out offers, how they upsell, etc.

    d. Pick up a pen and paper, draw all these on a piece of paper, and then use it to draw a plan to utilize your own list.

    e. Then get to work....creating your own business process with your already existing list.

    if you follow the above, and i know you are smart enough to understand it, i can guarantee you that you could build a profitable venture out of your 200K list within the next 4 weeks.
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    • Profile picture of the author capitalalchemy
      Originally Posted by tunity View Post

      Note - Make sure you are reading about email marketing, not list building....They are two different things.....(IMHO)
      Absolute, spot on truth.
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  • Profile picture of the author DreamWarrior
    There is some really good advice here. It would be worth using this to your advantage.

    If you use some if the techniques mentioned above, you should be able to afford someone to do all the hard work for you where you can sell your product to potential clients to suit their needs.

    Go speak to someone who knows their stuff who can help you out, otherwise do a JV with someone who's already done that part of it so that both of you can profit on your list.
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